The 4th edition of V Trail in Vang Vieng, Laos, saw a few interesting new names appear at the top of the male and female leaderboards. While still being a very tough mountain jungle course, V Trail received applause from participants for its technical event organisation.

Victories on the long distance course of this season's only Lao event on the ATM Championship calendar went to South Korea's Hee Joo Jang in the women's and the Thai duo Sittisak Suwannee and Puttasit Wiwatsriprapha. Hee Joo Jang was clearly the quickest as she finished almost 2h50' ahead of Thailand's well-known Siriporn Leumathong, ATM Finalist last season, and Patchara Buagun, also from Thailand. Belgium's Olivia Becu was fourth ahead of the first local runner Nakin Visisombat.

The male duo crossed the line together. Suwannee and Wiwatriprapha had a 26-minute advantage over China's Lyu Meng. Also among the 86k finishers were Malaysia’s Grandmaster point chaser Phua Cho Kai in 7th and Japan’s 4-star Grandmaster Masafumi Yamamoto in 9th place. For Yamamoto it was the second time he ran V Trail.

V Trail 55 km - France's Arnaud Beck was clearly the fastest on the 55km course, finishing in 8h44'47". Second place went to Indonesian young trail talent Surydratama Yanizar from Bali in 10h27, and third to Australian Fergus McLeod in 10h45. Nedyalko Terziev from Singapore took fourth, ahead of Thailand's experienced Amorn Kimnguan.

The women's 55km went to local Yoth Soulivanthong in 12h19, clearly ahead of two other Lao runners - showing the competitive growth of the scene in the country. Hutsadar Matsouvanh and Viravone Thepsimuang joined Soulivanthing on the podium. Yumei Chan of SIngapore crossed the finish line in fourth place.

With special thanks to Amorn Kimnguan and Masafumi Yamamoto

This weekend the spotlights are put on Laos again for the only time in our ATM championship season. It’s time for the 4th edition of V Trail in Vang Vieng, the first international trail running event in the country. Now exclusively organised by Green Step, V Trail has kept the traditional courses of 85km and 55km with significant elevation gain in them (5470hm and 3290hm, respectively). Considered as one of the very toughest mountain jungle races in Asia, V Trail is as much as mental challenge as a physical challenge.

Participants on the 85km and 55km score points for the ATM Championship ranking. That’s also important for the local Lao runners, who only have one chance in their own country to put themselves on the board. The Lao community has been growing since 2018 - year of the first V Trail - and last year we even celebrated a local victory in the women’s 55km race: Sou Soulivanthong even finished third overall. We are curious to find out if anyone will follow into her footsteps.

The 85km start list shows lots of different nationalities and several well-known ATM Grandmaster point seekers, including 4-star Grandmaster and 2022 ATM Finalist Masafumi Yamamoto of Japan, and Malaysia’s Phua Cho Kai. The battle for the podium places appears open on paper in both male and female categories. Siriporn Leumathong, ATM Finalist for Thailand last season, might as well have an opportunity to score her first ATM race win. Belgium’s Olivia Becu could be a challenger, too.

The 55 km start list for men has Thailand’s Amorn Kimnguan on it, ATM Finalist last season and always a contender for a top placing. Kimnguan has plenty of experience in tough ultra trails, and alread ran V Trail five years ago - finishing fourth on that occasion. France’s Arnaud Beck has a decent trail record in his home country and could be a potential winner, too. Of course, running in France is not the same as in the tropical rainforest in Laos. We also look forward to the performance of two Indonesian youngsters: Surydratama Yanizar and Zenal Arifin.

The 85km starts in the early morning at 6 am, the 55km half an hour later.

Season VIII of the Asia Trail Master Championship series begins in Thailand, just like last year with Ultra Trail Koh Chang, one of the classic events in the southern part of the country. A colourful event offering a 100k and a 70k option for both ATM Championship points and a Grandmaster Quest point. UTKC is the first of three early season events that will all require a basic level of fitness and endurance. Our popular and traditional season opener before the covid-19 crisis in Indonesia, Bandung’s 42k Tahura Trail, has been postponed to 11 March in 2023. While Tahura was a rather fast and easy-going race going into the new season, UTKC can be a hot struggle for many participants. The great atmosphere around the event makes up for that, however. Two weeks later, the ATM circuit moves to Laos for the V Trail in Vang Vieng. What used to be a late-season event is now one of the first on 4/5 February. It’s still the premier trail running event in the country, and we are happy the event is back on the calendar. V Trail will offer two points race categories: the 85km and the 55km.

One week later we are back in the Philippines, albeit the northern island of Luzon. The Santa Ines Mountain Adventure was a successful Candidate Race last year and the 80km race will now be a Championship points race on 11 February. Organised by The Pace Republic including 2-star Grandmaster Rhea Batac, the event is held to the east of capital city Manila in the Rizal mountains.

After this trio, there will be a two-week gap to the new Candidate Race in Brunei, Simpur Ultra. Another week later, we move to Vietnam for the first time in 2023. The Dalat Ultra Trail will be held on 4 March and it’s a 85km race that matters there. A week later should be the aforementioned Tahura Trail in Bandung, Indonesia. On 25 March we have another event that used to be later in the season. Hong Kong’s classic Lantau 70 will be a points race for the Asia Trail Master Championship for the first time. One week later we return to another part of Vietnam, Ninh Binh, for the Cuc Phuong Jungle Paths 100k race - organised by the team of Cau Dat Farm Ultra in 2020 - a very strong Candidate Race at the time, which unfortunately cannot be held at the moment due to change in land ownership.

As you can read, the first quarter of 2023 will be filled with exciting trail action straightaway!

Unfortunately, the V Trail in Vang Vieng, Laos, also has to be rescheduled following the earlier postponement of Luang Prabang Trail. The current situation in the country still does not warrant a successful event in November, and the organisers at Green Step have taken the precautionary step to move the V Trail back by a few months to the first weekend of February 2023. This implies it will be one of the first races of Season VIII of the Asia Trail Master Championship series, which may actually be a good thing. The event in Luang Prabang is being planned for its usual September slot in 2023. Laos was one of the new destinations in Asian trail running before the covid pandemic hit us all. In the last edition of V Trail, some local talent emerged as well and we are looking forward to seeing how these talented runners will develop themselves in the coming season.

Along with Ijen Trail in East Java, Indonesia, the two Laos events are currently the only scheduled ATM events not to take place after all. Lantau 70 in Hong Kong may be the fourth casualty of ongoing covid-related restrictions.

For any queries about the postponement , please contact Green Step directly.